Cannot login into iMessage

That happens to me as well, it's driving me crazy and no one at Apple can fix it..

Pulling out the com.apple.ids.service.com.apple.madrid.plist and drag it to the Trash does not resolve the problem.

Resetting the keychain does not help, valiating and repairing the keychain does not help, nothing they tried helped... iMessage and FT now do not work at all on my MacBook Pro..

Hi,

If iMessages works in another Mac User account for the same Apple ID then the issue is either with the Set up of the regular Mac User account or in the storage of details specific to that account.

These are the Trouble Shooting steps.

This includes Set up things such as Date and Time including the Time Zone.

Use the Automatic setting and make sure a server is showing

The Hosts file which may end up blocking the iMessages server. More likely a domain that is part of the iMessages server address.

They should have checked that you can see the Serial Number of your Mac using the Apple icon Menu > About this Mac and clicking twice on the line that tells you the current OS level.

If this is missing then it needs a trip to the Apple Store or an Apple Authorised Serive Provider (AASP) to have it put back.

In Mountain Lion and after it has been needed after the OS X 10.8.2 update but it has also been reported that for some that Upgrading to Mavericks removes it.

Other checks.

Have a Public DNS IP address listed in System Preferences > Network > Advanced Button > DNS tab.

On your router check the Date and Time and Time Zone are set to be the same as you computer. (Daylight Saving Times can really mess things up)

Check the Firewall is allowing Messages and IMAgent if it is ON.

It should not be doing Stealth.

Check the Router is using UPnP to open ports.

Resetting the Keychain is a Legitimate step.

It creates a new but empty Login keychain and renames the old one.

The first step should be to then move all the non Messages related items back to the new Keychain

This should leave the IDS: (your Apple ID)-Auth Token for iMessages and possibly FaceTime

You could also leave the other accounts such as AIM, Jabber and Yahoo related items that Messages can use.

Messages is subject now to the OSes Sandboxing.

This means it uses one route to write to the .plists but they are stored somewhere else.

There is also another support app (SOAgent) that does keep many .plists in it's Sandboxed area and not in ~/Library/Preferences.

Action steps.

If the Firewall is On and the items are listed AND the DNS is sorted PLUS there is no issue with Date, Time and Zone then launch the Activity Monitor in Applications/Utilities.

Quit Messages and set FaceTime to Off

In the list find imagent (it will be in lower case as I hav just written and have no icon)

It is likely to be below the Finder as it starts up when the computer does.

Highlight it and then use the Quit Button top left.

Confirm Force Quit.

It is likely to restart straight away.

If it stays Off restart the Mac.

Test both FaceTime and Messages.

If that does not work use the Finder > Go Menu whilst holding down the ALT key

Select the Library that appears.

Navigate to Containers/com.apple.ichat/Data/Library/Preferences

In here find the com.apple.imessages.bag.plist This should not be an Alias.

If it is a regular file Drag it to the Trash and Restart Messages.

This .plist holds the server info that Messages is trying to use for the iMessages account.

If that does not work:-

Whilst the Finder window is open use the View Menu > Show Path Bar.

Double Click the Library item next to your Little House icon.

Navigate to Preferences.

In here find com.apple.ids.service.com.apple.madrid.plist and drag that to thre Trash and then Restart Messages.

This may need you to re-enter your Apple ID.

If that does not work find the com.apple.imagent.plist and Drag that to the Trash

In this case Restart the computer.

Generally speaking .plists are Read at app start up and mostly left alone unless you change Preferences.

As this was Read when the computer was started up you need to restart the computer.

As you can see I have suggested a piecemeal approach so that we can leave the app as untouched as possible rather than using a sledgehammer approach.

If required you could try deleting the IMAgent.plist any with iChat in them and any with imessages in them from the ~/Library/Preferences.

8:40 pm Tuesday; April 8, 2014

Thanks all of you guys.😉 It just randomly started to work.

Ralph,

Your a GOD !!!!! I have spent about 10 hours on this. Trying to sign in. The phrase you said, " verify the time on the computer and router prompted me to double check that. I had traveled to the West Coast, (Canada) and changed the time, every thing failed after that and I could not text from computer anymore.

It was as simple as readjusting the time. YES!!!! Thanks again!

Larry

You are welcome.

9:31 pm Saturday; April 19, 2014

Non of what you have suggested worked for me. I checked my DNS, firewalls, dumped the plist files into trash and also tried restarting my Mac in safe mode and imagent. I appreciate your help on this matter but its also very disappointing and tiring. Could this problem have to do with the new update? The software has not proven to make anything better except disable iCloud iMessage and FT. Also @jem consulting I'd like to know if your problem has been solved and how.

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

What update ?

Apple are offering regular users access to the Seed program

Is that what you are talking about ?

8:53 pm Wednesday; April 23, 2014

Hi Jon, Ralph:

None of the above suggestions worked for me.

The update is Maverick as described above. It made all my original keychain issues worse.

I am unable to use iMessage and Facetime on my MacBook Pro and no one in Apple Support can resolve the issue.

I am exceedingly frustrated by this situation.. particularly the lack of knowledge on behalf of the Apple Service Advisors including the "Sr. Advisors" who do nothing more than take you through a list of steps that attempt to try to resolve the problem that they "think might" fix the problem but do not. These are tests they lead you through because they do not know what the root-cause is. It is infuriating and a waste of time for the client.

I'm at a loss at this point.

Hi there! I hope I can be of help telling others my current experience with the problem I guess many experiencing! I am writing this on my sons iPad as I tried to resolve the problem and found it not that easy to start with. It was a pain actually. One of my sons iPad could not log into iMessage and other applications like FaceTime. The other son is able to log in and no issues. First I discovered one iPad has the latest operating software and the other one not. I made some assumption that the software is the bug but then I made one to one comparisons between the 2 iPads. I found that one iPad did not have the date and time set automatically but the other one did. The one that did have the time and date set automatically was the one that works fine with the Apple ID. So I changed the setting to ON for the date and time on the iPad that was off and tried to log into iMessage. Well, lo and behold, I was able to log in to iMessage, FaceTime and other apps! Hope this helps others with a similar experience!

PS: the Apple support guys, most of them are useless they do not know and just guess. It is sad that you read these posts and discover that these suppose to be trained and experts knows, but in fact they have absolutely no idea!

After much research the solution that worked for me was to change the date & time to "Set Automatically"

Not sure if it will work for everyone but that solved the problem for me. I signed in and it works perfectly now!

Same issue as Jem consulting, anyone found a solution?

Using an iPad Air, iMessage or FaceTime will not log in, just the "An error occurred during activation. Try again." message.

Date/time stuff doesn't work

Hey Andrewstepp, mine has not worked since I reported it. All Apple can do is tell me to completely re-build my machine.. it's a pain in the butt so I have not done it yet..... and dreading the process entirely. Nothing they tried work, no date/time (which WAS set correctly anyway) no deleting and re-building Keychains, nothing. It just stopped working and naturally FaceTime stopped as well. Neither of these apps work on my fairly new MacBook Pro and it's really annoying but.. I give up.. it is working on my iPhone so I use that if I want to FaceTime with my family.

This is just beyond words frustrating.... I am sorry you are also having the same problem.

-Marjie